Internal combustion engines, such as, for instance, dual fuel internal combustion engines or internal combustion engines running on heavy fuel oil, diesel oil, or gaseous fuel oil, may be used to power any machine or other device, including ships or other marine applications, locomotive applications, on-highway trucks or vehicles, off-highway machines, earth-moving equipment, generators, aerospace applications, pumps, stationary equipment such as power plants, or other engine-powered applications. For accelerating the internal combustion engine, which means for starting the internal combustion engine, it is known to provide pressurized starting air into at least one cylinder of the internal combustion engine via a starting air system including a main starting valve and, for at least one cylinder, a cylinder starting valve providing the starting air to the respective cylinder. The pressure of the starting air causes the pistons to move and, thus, to start rotation of the crankshaft and operation of the internal combustion engine. The main starting valve controls the fluid connection of a pressurized starting air source with the cylinder starting valve(s) via a starting air manifold.
While operating the internal combustion engine, a malfunctioning cylinder starting valve may leak. In such case, for example, at least some amount of the fuel/air mixture supplied to the cylinders for combustion may leak through the malfunctioning cylinder starting valve into the starting air manifold. Hence, the leaked air/fuel mixture may further flow, for instance, through the main starting air valve and may accumulate within, for instance, the engine room where the internal combustion engine is located. In such case, potential explosion danger may be present.
The present disclosure is directed, at least in part, to improving or overcoming one or more aspects of prior systems.